Business leaders find they could be sabotaging their corporate success

By Kaitlin Loukides

Published On: Oct 10 2013 07:59:57 PM CDT

Today the Pocatello Small Business Development Center held its annual symposium to help inspire local female business leaders

POCATELLO, Idaho -

Today local business leaders from across southeast Idaho gathered at this year's Working Women Business Symposium in Pocatello to learn not only the number of female entrepreneurs is on the rise, but there might be some bad habits most everyone can admit to being guilty of that could be sabotaging their success in the workplace.

Ann Swanson is a consultant with the Pocatello Small Business Development Center and she said their main goals in hosting this event is to: educate women about what it takes to climb the corporate ladder, increase their networking skills, and inspire them to achieve their aspirations.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," Swanson said. "So, when you get a lot of women working together, you end up with an incredible amount of energy, and we want to have them walk out of here energized and ready to grow themselves professionally."

Swanson mentioned the upswing in women becoming entrepreneurs is possibly due to them feeling more welcomed into the workforce today as opposed to the more doubtful attitudes toward female business leaders in the years past.

"Women have always been entrepreneurial whether it has been taking-in washing or caring for another woman's child, there has always been that spirit. But, as women have become more welcome and powerful in official moneymaking undertakings, that obviously now happens at the small business level, too - starting small businesses and thinking along those kinds of lines rather than, 'I'm just going to get a job somewhere.'"

Author and keynote speaker Jane Freund of Freundship Press mentioned the top ways people sabotage themselves in the workplace.

The first is procrastination, followed by: having a skewed sense of perfection, showing up to work unprepared and not taking responsibility for the shortfall, lacking a purpose or not setting goals, and tardiness.

The list went on to include the fact that many women naturally forget to place their own needs before others.

Both Swanson and Freund mentioned women also have a tendency to talk negatively about themselves and have trouble graciously accepting compliments.

"We need to say what we want without laughing or looking away," Freund said.

Swanson added one of the biggest challenges women say they face in the workplace is the feeling of not being taken seriously by male coworkers.

Swanson mentioned a few ways people can be more successful when trying to climb that corporate ladder to success.

The first way is to make sure you are marketing yourself using social media sites such as LinkedIn. She said to remember it is alright to talk yourself up and brag about your professional accomplishments. Not only is it important to boost your own profile, but to speak highly of coworkers and other professionals you admire as well. It will pay off.

She also mentioned to set a specific time to check e-mails and return phone calls, since this will help with time management and organizational skills.